Sure Ways to Prove Your Value as an Agent

Consumers have always been willing to pay for value. However, in the age of disruptors and non-traditional brokerage models, it’s easy to get distracted from your value story.  Don’t let your agents forget what they bring to the table.  Keep them focused on providing quality service and a stellar experience and make sure they have the script and the tools to match.  When they deliver on those promises, the results are golden.

Elevate Your Agents and Your Brokerage

Standing out from competitors requires a real estate selling approach that is genuinely committed to creating lasting relationships with customers that add value. Customers want to work with people they trust, like, and know. They’re seeking partnerships based on integrity, effective communication, and knowledge. Strong listening skills and a well-thought-out, comprehensive listing presentation complete with a robust real estate marketing plan can raise your associates up in the minds of sellers and instill confidence in potential clients about your value.

Here are a few things that can visibly demonstrate to clients how your agents bring value to the transaction:

• Your Agents must do more than comparables to stand out. While this data is important, the ability to speak to local market trends, together with an understanding of the unique features of the home, shows the homeowner the agent fully knows how to price the home. Extra points if you can standardize this into a visual element of your listing presentation.
  
• Have a great listing presentation. A professionally designed, comprehensive presentation tailored to the customer and their home, together with a full marketing plan to sell it, shows that an agent is focused on the client’s interests and is serious about their business. Having a great listing presentation template for your agents helps make even ordinary agents look extraordinary to their clients. It helps immediately set them apart as a professional.
  
• Offer extended marketing exposure. Customers are willing to pay for services and value. Make sure you have a strong online presence and ability to show clients elements of digital and social advertising that they will receive. Have an Open House plan that your agent can present, as well as programs for Just Listed direct mail and other outreach. This will go a long way to separate your agents from agents who rely largely on the MLS, won’t spend the money or don’t have the expertise to get the exposure a seller needs to move the property quickly.
  
• Management of all elements of the sales process. A good real estate agent keeps a lot of balls in the air during the sales process, coordinating appointments, meeting inspectors and contractors when the buyer isn’t available, and providing a network of trusted experts. Make sure you have a way of marketing to sellers all the steps involved that the agent will be handling for them.

While it is possible to compete with the bigger real estate brands during the listing phase, it takes a focused effort and solid tools and systems to build on. Another option to consider is to actually become part of a recognized brand that gives you these things on Day 1.

 Choosing a Partner to Strengthen Your Brokerage

Affiliating with a brand like Weichert can have an immediate, positive effect on your ability to differentiate yourself in your local market. Not only because you are part of a recognized brand, but because we actively give you the tools, training, and systems to create things like a great listing presentation, price trend analysis, online marketing support, direct mail programs, Open House systems and more. The result is that your agents have a lot to offer and whether they are new or seasoned, can provide a great overall listing and selling experience for the client.

In addition, a Weichert affiliation gives you access to many competitive advantages:

• A comprehensive lead generation program
• A set of marketing tools and proven processes to help you meet sales goals
• A CRM system for keeping in front of contacts that is tied into the Weichert sales system
• A support team that gives you access to real estate and technology experts and a referral network that enables collaboration and lead sharing with other affiliates across the country

You and your agents work hard.  Get the tools to be able to demonstrate your value and win clients. As a Weichert affiliate, you’ll get the resources you need to go head-to-head with the ‘big brands’ and win.

Call us today at 877-567-3350 or contact our team for more information.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/sure-ways-to-prove-your-value-as-an-agent/

Using Facebook Video Ads to Supplement Brokerage Lead Generation Activities

Of course, there is nothing new about the concept of using Facebook’s ad platform to try and attract new business, increase brand recognition, and build the overall size of a real estate brokerage. However, as the platform continues to evolve and become more sophisticated, fewer and fewer agents are using videos to take advantage of its tremendous power. While Facebook Ads can’t completely replace all other lead generation activities, they can be a valuable portion of your overall strategy. The key is being able to understand how to get your ads to stand out and capture the attention of the right people.

What Video Ads Should You Create?

Just Listed or Just Sold- This option supplements direct mail as a way to let people know that you have a property that was just listed or sold. Create a stunning ad to show off your new accomplishment and use Facebook’s advanced targeting tools to get it in front of the local audience.

Neighborhood Profiles- Show everyone that you are the local expert by creating a video that profiles various neighborhoods in your market. Include key details like what makes the neighborhood unique and the benefits of buying a home there.

Testimonials- Testimonials are an invaluable marketing assets that truly help prospects feel more comfortable about working with you. When you complete a transaction, ask your happy clients if they would be comfortable filming a brief testimonial to share with other buyers and sellers about why they enjoyed working with you.

Open Houses- Taking a video of a busy open house and the property is a fantastic way of getting more exposure for the property and showing future sellers how aggressive you are about marketing your listings.

Real Estate Tips- Sharing interesting and actionable tips in an entertaining way are a great way of showing buyers and sellers that you are knowledgeable and eager to help them make the most of each transaction. Videos like these go a long way to building trust with your audience.

Charity Work- Videos that show the community how well you work with charitable organizations build tremendous brand value and go far to illustrate that you care about more than commission checks.

Who Should You Target with Your Ads?

The target audience that you select for your video ads is just as important, if not more so than the content of the videos themselves. It is easy to overthink placement, but there are three main factors to focus on.

Your Database- One of the best targeting options allows you to upload a CSV. file of your contact database and place your video ad in front of those people. This is an easy and effective way of staying on their radar throughout the year.

Locals- Farming your area has never been easier thanks to Facebook’s capability of targeting people that live within a specific geography. This is particularly helpful for all of those “just listed” and “just sold” videos.

Behaviors & Interests- In addition to being able to reach people based on where they live, you can also reach people based on how they are behaving online. For example, you can target people that are showing interest in buying a home and are trying to learn about your farm area. This is extremely helpful in making sure you’re reaching the right people rather than wasting money on “spray and pray” marketing.

Bringing it All Together

While you can’t depend on Facebook video ads to be your only source of lead generation or expanding brokerage awareness, you can develop results from videos with a limited budget. In fact, if you create high-quality video content for your ads and target them correctly, you can reach people for only pennies per impression.

Being in business for yourself, doesn’t mean you have to go it alone. For more information about how to plug into the Weichert system, so you can always get answers to your questions on marketing and more, contact us today. Go to www.weichertfranchise.com.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/using-facebook-video-ads-to-supplement-brokerage-lead-generation-activities/

If Open Houses Aren't Generating Leads, You're Doing It Wrong

As digital advertising becomes more and more essential and appealing to real estate agents to grow their business, many have stopped more traditional practices like holding open houses. The promise of quick and easy leads from online sources leave agents feeling like these more personalized experiences aren’t necessary. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. When done correctly, open houses can increase an agent’s overall brand equity, be a powerful source of leads and still be the vehicle to move a significant percentage of your listings. Not to mention, in the age of online and tech focused competitors, more personal tactics like this can really set you apart. The key is to understand the correct way to prepare, host, and follow-up from each open house to extract the maximum benefit.

The Preparation

An open house that is quickly thrown together without planning and marketing will yield disappointing results. If you want to maximize your traffic and exposure, you need to look at it as an “event” not an item to check off the list. Take to the streets with flyers and door hangers and promote it online. Get the word out to potential buyers, as well as neighbors with friends who may know potential buyers, that this is their chance to see the home. We recommend starting about a week before the event on digital sources and you should post pictures and related material on your social pages daily, leading up to the event. Think about how you can make this an experience for those who attend. It is important to keep track of all that needs to be done which is why agents should have a clear-cut system in place to stay organized throughout the process.

The Open House

Let’s say you’ve done all your preparation well; there is still significant promotion to be done the day of the open house. Be sure that all of your signage is out and visually attractive to capture the attention of people in the neighborhood. This is great low-cost advertising–even to those who do not attend! Seeing your open house signs week in and week out goes a long way toward building brand in your community and ensures you get the call when a consumer is ready to make a move.

If the house is empty for a few moments, hop onto Instagram, Facebook Live, YouTube Live, and/or SnapChat to show people who couldn’t make it what they are missing. For those that do come through, make sure you have them sign in to capture their name and contact information, so you can follow up with them later. Make sure you ask them if they are working with an agent. If they are there to buy, there is a good chance they have property to sell as well.  Make sure you welcome each guest and walk them through the home if you can. Make the most of their interaction with you–show off your knowledge, your professionalism and attention to detail. This is real estate marketing 101, but as a broker, it never hurts to remind your agents of the basics.

Tech savvy brokers and their agents may even consider running digital ads the day of the open house, concentrated on a geography around the home. New advertising technologies such as “Geo-Fencing” and others, can target people on their mobile devices when they come within a radius of your event!

The Follow-Up

In addition to getting the listing sold, it is a primary goal to capture new buyers/sellers that aren’t already working with an agent. As soon as the open house is complete, it is important to follow up with the buyers that passed through the property within 24-48 hours of the event. A good real estate CRM is essential to this activity to keep follow-up organized and efficient. Even if someone is already working with an agent, it is important to follow up with them to get their insights about the property and learn what they liked or disliked so you can keep that in mind for your marketing efforts.

For many brokers, organizing a comprehensive system of training, activities and supporting tools to help their agents make the most of every open house can seem like a daunting task. But when you team up with a brand like Weichert, all the work is already done for you. All you have to do is plug in and use the resources.  From checklists and suppliers for materials to scripts, tips, and marketing templates, Weichert associates have access to everything they need to make these events successful. Weichert even provides the CRM to help manage and organize pre-event invitations and follow-ups.

Weichert believes in the importance of personal connections and developing meaningful relationships with clients. Embracing face-to-face strategies like open houses are a key to doing this. It’s these types of strategies that generate human connections that will feed your sales production and create a pipeline of business for your brokerage for years to come.

For more information about Weichert and their suite of real estate marketing tools and systems go to www.weichertfranchise.com or call us at 877-567-33350.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/if-open-houses-arent-generating-leads-youre-doing-it-wrong/

Get Involved. Win Clients.

In a world where people are constantly being bombarded with marketing messages, it can be very difficult to stand out and build a dominant brand. It’s important that your real estate marketing planis multi-faceted and consumers see you in more than just one context. It’s not enough to justadvertise on Facebook or justsend out direct mail. A good real estate marketing plan includes all of these and one often over-looked component: community involvement. This is a unique way to connect with potential clients in your community without directly marketing to them. And if you do it right, you can attain amazing results. More and more, savvy real estate brokers are discovering that clients and their community appreciate seeing the human side of a business through its community involvement and can be a great start to building those lasting relationships. Here are some actionable steps you can take to build those relationships and leverage them to win more business.

Three Ways to Engage With The Community

The first thing you need to do is find simple ways of becoming more engaged with your community. The following three strategies will not only feel amazing for you and your team, but also make good business sense and will build a positive brand perception.

Align Yourself with A Local Charity

By choosing an official charity to support, you have the opportunity to socialize locally in a meaningful way. This works best if you select a cause that you and your team feel passionate about and is well-recognized by the community. Being a visible sponsor for an active charity is a great way to keep your brand in front of the community while making positive contributions.

Hold Regular Workshops

Become an educator by hosting local workshops.  You will build the perception that you are both an expert and an ally.  The time before and after these workshops will give you and your team the opportunity to answer and ask questions that can spark relationships which can lead to future business. The key to success here is to choose workshop topics that are relevant and valuable to your neighborhoods, such as Home Buyer Seminars.

Participate in Community Events

Is your town hosting a parade, race, festival or other event looking for sponsors? Sign up! It will be great exposure for you, show the neighborhood you care and usually includes an opportunity for your agent team to be out interacting with active members of the community in some capacity.

Shout Out Your Good Deeds

It always feels good to give back, but it’s important to let people know about it!  Promote your work and accomplishments in order to gain the valuable recognition your real estate team deserves. Here are some simple ways to do that.

Press Releases to Local Media

A press release is a quick way to get the word out to local papers, magazines, radio, and television stations that there will be an event of interest. Of course, your participation in that event will be included and will help to raise eyebrows about your involvement. Press releases work well before and right after events, but if are looking to drum up attendance, plan to send one prior to the event.

Feature the Event in Instagram and Facebook Stories With Local Influencers

If you want to maximize the exposure of your event or involvement, invite local Instagram or Facebook influencers to help you promote it. In most cases, if it is a charitable cause, they will do this for free. This saves you from having to pay for ads, yet will likely yield even better results in terms of brand recognition, followers gained, attendance won. Don’t have an influencer?  No problem! Facebook and Instagram are still great outlets to promote your company’s involvement, both pre-event and post-event.

Include the Event in Your Newsletter

Have a weekly or monthly newsletter? Be sure to let your subscribers know about your activities. In fact, you should consider devoting an entire newsletter to explain the cause and why it deserves their support or why they should attend that particular workshop you have coming up. This helps to remind your subscribers that you aren’t just here to sell real estate but that you truly care about the community where you do business.

Highlight Your Involvement on Your Website

If you are frequently involved in events of your own or others around the community, create a news section on your website to promote this activity. Be sure to include as many pictures and videos of each event displaying your team hard at work. You could also include highlights from the events right on your homepage.

Getting Involved Goes A Long Way

Being intimately involved with the community is a principle that Jim Weichert understood from day one of his real estate career when he handed out business cards at the local train station. As an experienced broker, you know that there is no replacement for the human-to-human connection. It’s also one of the most valuable assets to building a successful real estate brand. A franchise system such as Weichert coacheson best practices for building relationships, connecting with the people in your community and provides things such as PR services to help you promote your company’s news locally. If this is the type of brokerage support you’re looking for go to www.weichertfranchise.com or call 877-567-3350 to learn more.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/get-involved-win-clients/

It’s a Mobile World. How Do You Stack up?

In the last 30 years, brokers have seen their primary means of selling and advertising go from newspapers and referrals to online or digital sources. According to NAR, almost 95% of homebuyers used a website to search for homes last year with 72% of those using a mobile or tablet app.

What is equally interesting is the prevalence of mobile usage across demographics. Of Course 99% of millennials used mobile devices or apps to assist in their home search and 58% of them found the home they bought on a mobile device. Even consumers between 35 and 65 used their mobile devices for real estate research at a rate over 89% and roughly 40% of them found their home on a mobile device.  Another interesting dynamic is that overall, 14% of all buyers found their real estate agent using a mobile device.

Real estate agents have been on the front lines of the mobile revolution as well with over 90 percent of REALTORS® using digital or mobile devices on a daily basis. Despite this, REALTORS cite “keeping up with technology” as one of the biggest challenges for brokerages in the next two years.  So how can brokers assess their use of mobile technology and insure they are keeping up with the industry?

Common Mobile Strategies

Going mobile in 2019 means more than just texting and getting email on your smartphone. The following guidelines are critical if you are to be effective, and want to appeal to the shifting demographics of both homebuyers and new agents you may be trying to attract. Here are a few things to consider:

1. Is your website mobile friendly?If you haven’t looked at your site carefully on mobile devices lately, then you may want to do a review. Mobile standards are changing with new technologies like Google AMP which will drive the proper performance of your site on mobile devices. Mobile responsive design of your website is a requirement now and even sites that worked fine on mobile a couple years ago, are due for an overhaul.
2. Is your advertising mobile friendly?Many brokerages are running Google Ads but did you know that these ads must be specifically optimized for best performance on mobile devices? Make sure the people who are running your paid search advertising are using the latest mobile algorithms and extensions in the setup of your campaign. Mobile search is a slightly different animal than traditional desktop search and you shouldn’t just assume that your campaigns are optimized for it.
3. Facebook Advertising?With 95% of Facebook users accessing their account from mobile devices, there is no mobile presence for your brokerage without a solid presence on Facebook and Instagram. You should consider both organic posting and paid advertising on this medium so that Facebook users in your locality get to see and experience your brand in a more social setting.
4. Mobile Chat Anyone?Direct messaging, or mobile chat, is the new email of real-estate marketing. Whether you use old-school text messages, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, or real-estate specific apps, mobile chat can sync up listings, manage customer relations, and improve communication between your team, too.
5. Mobile Client Management. If you want Millennial generation agents to be comfortable in your brokerage, pay attention to the capabilities of things like your CRM. In 2019, that CRM needs to come with a good mobile app that makes client management and communication easy.

Getting Up to Speed With Mobile

It’s certainly a challenge for independent brokers, even if they are tech savvy, to keep up with and train agents on the best uses of mobile technology. That’s why brands like Weichert have put so much time and energy into figuring out and implementing mobile-focused digital strategies. Weichert.com recently completed a site redesign focused on providing an optimized mobile experience. It attracts over 3 million visitors a month and is key to the company’s digital strategy to attract leads to its Customer Care Center. Those leads are delivered to our brokers and agents in real time, on both their desktop and mobile devices and directly into our Weichert PRO CRM. The CRM features a mobile app which allows easy access to all features including client management, marketing tools, email and more. Weichert offers a mobile app to help agents stay on track with monthly production goals by allowing them to easily set and track their activities. In addition, Weichert places local Facebook advertising optimized for mobile users to help build brand awareness in its markets.

Keeping up with technologycan be hard, but there are other solutions. By affiliating with a company like Weichert, you can take advantage of their vast resources for keeping up, so you can focus on managing your business.  If you’d like to hear more about available Weichert resources and how they could benefit your business, contact Weichert today to learn more at weichertfranchise.comor 877-567-3350.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/its-a-mobile-world-how-do-you-stack-up/

Best Way To Get Full Commission? Know Your Value.

In the ultra-competitive market for local home listings, the pressure to discount commissions is ever present. Some brands in your market may even make the discounted commission their primary marketing differentiator while selling themselves as full service agents. How do you compete with that?

Is discounting simply devaluing your services or something you have to do to survive? Here is some insight from the online real estate marketing specialists at Weichert.

Educating Clients About the Value of your Services

If you want to keep your full commission, you have to sell the value of what you do for it, plain and simple. A 4% commission from the other guy may sound great, but we all know he’s cutting corners somewhere to do that. Yet for clients, cutting broker commission seems to be the easiest route to saving money – and in their heads, this makes sense because they often lack the insight into what it is that real estate agents actually do. Taking the time to keep the client informed of the services you will provide at every step of the way is key. These include, but are not limited to:

• Start with a great listing presentation and local market analysis. If you impress them with the professionalism and thoughtfulness of your competitive research, you’ve immediately set yourself apart as a professional who is deserving of full compensation.
• Do the legwork – Scheduling multiple open houses, tours, inspections, re-inspections, conducting follow up, recommending small changes to make the house more sellable, running ads in local real estate publications, posting in supermarkets, mailings… the list goes on and you should be able to tell prospective home sellers exactly what they won’t get when they go to a discount brokerage.
• Most people hate to negotiate – It’s a fact, but as an agent negotiating deals is your bread and butter. Agents can spend hours presenting, convincing, and following up on an offer – and only their experience and negotiating expertise maximize the seller’s chance of selling quickly at the price they want.
• Expanded Property Marketing Exposure – This is achieved by accessing your real estate agent’s branding and MLS platforms, the most important of which is its online space. Buyers predominantly search the Internet for housing choices, and it’s almost impossible to get the same visibility and access to buyers through a discount realtor.
• Accurate pricing – There are always properties that are overvalued by owners and may stay on the market for months or even years, just as there are undervalued properties that are rapidly sold for far less than what the owner deserved. Accurate pricing ensures a good result for owner and buyer, as well as a faster selling process.
• Executing the sale – Completing a sale is a complex process that is made far easier, faster and more reliable when taken on by an experienced professional agent and broker. A full service agent will often have a real estate crm system to help them stay on top of potential buyers and a transaction management system to manage the transaction in a way that for-sale-by-owners, or discount brokers will not.

Technology plays a vital role in achieving this and is another area where you can show the value you add at full commission. As an agent, you have access to expert online marketing tools for real estate agents, a broker who is able to properly leverage the full power of their local brand and reputation, as well as a network of financing, legal, and construction professionals who you can recommend and help manage for your client.

Transform the way you sell with industry-leading real estate coaching programs 

Built on the expertise of experienced brokers, technology specialists and real estate industry leaders, Weichert is focused on providing effective answers to the challenges faced by today’s real estate agents. From marketing strategies for agents and a cutting-edge lead generation system to the best real estate coaching programs in the industry, we provide all the solutions you need to build your business and succeed in even the most competitive climate.

If these tools and solutions sound like a good fit for your brokerage or you would like to find out more about the Weichert system, please contact us today.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/best-way-get-full-commission-2/

Franchise Success Spotlight Profile: Weichert Affiliate Beth Dickens—Weichert, Realtors® – Team Realty

Not more than 25 miles northwest of Fort Worth sits the charming rural community of Springtown, Texas, where long time affiliate Beth Dickens runs Weichert Realtors – Team Realty.

Beth Dickens Owner Weichert Team Realty

With a population of close to 4,000 and within commuting distance to downtown Fort Worth, Springtown has seen its fortunes rise slowly over its rich, 160 year history. Housing in Springtown and throughout Parker County represents a rural, farm and ranch lifestyle that Beth Dickens has called home since she was a child. “As a girl I had a doll house.” she remembers, “I would pretend to try and sell it to people. I guess I was born to be a real estate agent.”

After years as an agent Beth and her business partner Lorene, finally opened Team Realty as independent brokers in 1998. The pair did moderately well, but Beth recalls the constant challenge of recruiting and keeping new agents. “We went from 5, to 10, then back to 5 again, we just couldn’t get to that next level and sustain it. It’s hard for an independent in a rural market with so many other well-known brands around.”

Over the years Beth and Lorene had flirted with the idea of affiliation with a national real estate brand and had entertained pitches from RE/MAX, Coldwell Banker, Century 21, Keller Williams and others, but hadn’t really felt compelled to make a move. But in 2007, someone from Weichert® came knocking on their door. The Weichert story felt like something different.

“The sophisticated Weichert internet presence and reach was quite amazing to us. There’s no way an independent can compete with that kind of investment and those kind of systems,” notes Beth. What appealed to her was the Weichert internet marketing approach that brings over 40 million visitors a year to their website from around the country. Leads are routed to their call center and calls are carefully screened by trained operators and sent to live agents typically in under 2 minutes.

There was, however, another thing they both noticed in their dealings with Weichert that was equally appealing–their ethics. This was the first franchise team that really made Beth and Lorene feel like they cared about their success as a brokerage and as individuals. At the time of these discussions, they were actually on the verge of opening another office, but Weichert asked them not to. “This was Weichert walking away from money because they felt we needed to be more successful out of the one office we had before we started another one. That really impressed me”.

Beth & Lorene had about 8 agents when they joined Weichert and Beth admits that some of them were worried about the affiliation. “A few people got hung up on the fees”, says Beth “but the great majority of them saw that it was better for them long term”.

Getting Up To Speed With Weichert

And so Beth and Lorene signed on with Weichert in 2007 and became Weichert, Realtors® – Team Realty. Joining the partnership was both a relief, and the beginning of exciting changes in their professional life. It was a relief in that the Weichert coaching team, and its proven systems had the answers to so many of the growth and business development challenges they had struggled with as an independent agency for years.  It was also exciting as Beth and her husband bought Lorene out in 2008 and dove headlong into the Weichert training and systems. Almost immediately, they noticed an odd thing when they put the Weichert sign on the building.  “Suddenly recruiting got a whole lot easier,” Beth recalls.  Starting with about 6 agents, in 2007, Beth and her husband slowly built up their team, following the Weichert Methodology.

Change is Good….Really.

Beth and her team loved the training and coaching opportunities afforded by the new relationship and embraced things like Weichert University, Weichert Management Academy, and new Weichert systems and technology.

Beth describes Weichert’s listing presentation system, “DOORS”, as a game changer. Not only is it automated online and easy to create, but it is homeowner centric not brokerage focused. Beth notes that the “price trend analysis” provided by Weichert is also so much better than the simple comparative market analysis they did previously. The combined effect of better training, better materials, better data, and a solid brand affiliation created a noticeable improvement in their closing rate.

Another way in which Weichert was different is in their processes around running open houses. In an internet age where so many agents will tell you “open houses don’t work” or “they’re just for the seller”, the comprehensive Weichert process around running open houses really works. Everything from signage, to balloons, door knocking, and all the online and printed material that goes with it are covered by the proven Weichert open house management system. But the proof is in the results: Beth’s team sells at least one house per month from leads that come from her agents’ open houses.

Results

Weichert, Realtors® – Team Realty has just moved into their second decade as a Weichert Affiliate. Starting from their modest single office with 6 agents, Beth has indeed opened that second office, and boasts a staff of 28 agents serving the rural farm, ranch, and residential markets surrounding Fort Worth Texas.

But most impressive is her top line growth. Beth has overseen the growth of Weichert, Realtors® – Team Realty to more than 20 times the revenue they had before they joined Weichert.  To hear Beth tell it, “These folks have done for me everything they said they would do. If they told me I had to stand on my head to sell more houses, well I’d start yoga lessons tomorrow…”

The Weichert Way

Being a Weichert affiliate is a partnership, a collaboration, done with great respect for what you’ve already achieved and learned.

After all, you’ve already built a successful business.

We can help you do more

For more information on becoming a Weichert Affiliate, call 1-(877) 746-2067  or visit www.weichertfranchise.com. 

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/franchise-success-spotlight-profile-weichert-affiliate-beth-dickens-weichert-realtors-team-realty/

Best Way To Get Full Commission? Know Your Value.

In the ultra-competitive market for local home listings, the pressure to discount commissions is ever present. Some brands in your market may even make the discounted commission their primary marketing differentiator while selling themselves as full service agents. How do you compete with that?

Is discounting simply devaluing your services or something you have to do to survive? Here is some insight from the online real estate marketing specialists at Weichert.

Educating Clients About the Value of your Services

If you want to keep your full commission, you have to sell the value of what you do for it, plain and simple. A 4% commission from the other guy may sound great, but we all know he’s cutting corners somewhere to do that. Yet for clients, cutting broker commission seems to be the easiest route to saving money – and in their heads, this makes sense because they often lack the insight into what it is that real estate agents actually do. Taking the time to keep the client informed of the services you will provide at every step of the way is key. These include, but are not limited to:

• Start with a great listing presentation and local market analysis. If you impress them with the professionalism and thoughtfulness of your competitive research, you’ve immediately set yourself apart as a professional who is deserving of full compensation.
• Do the legwork – Scheduling multiple open houses, tours, inspections, re-inspections, conducting follow up, recommending small changes to make the house more sellable, running ads in local real estate publications, posting in supermarkets, mailings… the list goes on and you should be able to tell prospective home sellers exactly what they won’t get when they go to a discount brokerage.
• Most people hate to negotiate – It’s a fact, but as an agent negotiating deals is your bread and butter. Agents can spend hours presenting, convincing, and following up on an offer – and only their experience and negotiating expertise maximize the seller’s chance of selling quickly at the price they want.
• Expanded Property Marketing Exposure – This is achieved by accessing your real estate agent’s branding and MLS platforms, the most important of which is its online space. Buyers predominantly search the Internet for housing choices, and it’s almost impossible to get the same visibility and access to buyers through a discount realtor.
• Accurate pricing – There are always properties that are overvalued by owners and may stay on the market for months or even years, just as there are undervalued properties that are rapidly sold for far less than what the owner deserved. Accurate pricing ensures a good result for owner and buyer, as well as a faster selling process.
• Executing the sale – Completing a sale is a complex process that is made far easier, faster and more reliable when taken on by an experienced professional agent and broker. A full service agent will often have a real estate crm system to help them stay on top of potential buyers and a transaction management system to manage the transaction in a way that for-sale-by-owners, or discount brokers will not.

Technology plays a vital role in achieving this and is another area where you can show the value you add at full commission. As an agent, you have access to expert online marketing tools for real estate agents, a broker who is able to properly leverage the full power of their local brand and reputation, as well as a network of financing, legal, and construction professionals who you can recommend and help manage for your client.

Transform the way you sell with industry-leading real estate coaching programs 

Built on the expertise of experienced brokers, technology specialists and real estate industry leaders, Weichert is focused on providing effective answers to the challenges faced by today’s real estate agents. From marketing strategies for agents and a cutting-edge lead generation system to the best real estate coaching programs in the industry, we provide all the solutions you need to build your business and succeed in even the most competitive climate.

If these tools and solutions sound like a good fit for your brokerage or you would like to find out more about the Weichert system, please contact us today.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/real-estate-coaching/best-way-to-get-full-commission-know-your-value/

Time Management For Real Estate Brokers

Do you feel drained at the end of the day with a dozen important things remaining to be done? Do you leave tasks half-finished as you respond to an endless stream of urgent interruptions? Are you sacrificing time with your spouse and children? As a hard-working broker, you manage all types of tasks every day and may work long hours to accomplish them, from creating a marketing campaign to training new agents. Developing a work-life balance all comes down to using your time wisely. It’s easy to say but surprisingly hard to do, especially for brokers.

Here’s a few tips on how you can have the business you want, along with the lifestyle you deserve, from the experts at Weichert Real Estate Affiliates.

Principles of Broker Time Management

Time management is learning to accomplish more tasks in less time. It means better productivity and more quality time to renew and recharge. In turn, scheduling your time provides a more nurturing work-life balance that helps avoid broker burnout. There are a few main principles of broker time management that will have you working more productively with more time for yourself and your family:

1. Organize your daily goals
2. Delegate, delegate, then delegate some more.
3. Use automation and tools
4. Establish operational checkpoints on a regular basis

Daily Goals – The Most Powerful Part of Your Day

One famous dissertation on time management says you should write down 6 important goals you want to accomplish each work day. Whether your number is 5, 6, or 10, taking that 5 minutes each morning to define your priorities for the day is probably the single most important thing you will do all day.

Then as you accomplish each goal, cross it off your list to give yourself that feeling of accomplishment. Don’t get overly upset if you fail to achieve your full list, but make sure you follow through the next day.

Delegation

The temptation to take on certain tasks that you know you will do better than anyone else is strong and common. Yet if you never allow someone else to challenge themselves at this, you will be forever obligated to do it yourself. As a brand representing hundreds of brokers across the nation, Weichert experts will tell you that the most successful brokers have managed to be almost 100% strategic in their tasks and have delegated tasks they never thought they could.

Today pick one time-consuming activity that “I have to do myself”, and train someone in how to help you with it. They may stumble at first, but with patience and consistency, it is you who will run faster in the end.

All The Right Tools

The promise of so much technology and electronic capability is to do things faster and more efficiently. Unfortunately for too many brokers, technology promises have been offset by technology complexity and cost and brokers we see are either not using their tech properly, or at all.

And yet when you and your team are properly trained and fully utilizing modern systems like real estate CRMs, online lead generation and marketing, or even just using Microsoft Excel better, you achieve a level of organization and time management you can only dream of. You don’t have to be a computer geek. You just need to be willing to learn or leverage learned resources to be sure that the promise of the technology you use, is realized.

Trust But Verify (Regularly)

Even if your team is trained and motivated to use the systems and tools you have in place, establishing regular operational checkpoints is a must. This is an activity you can’t delegate. Having a look into how critical systems and initiatives are performing in the brokerage, provides you the critical insight you need to make larger, more far reaching decisions. For instance, you may find that agents are interpreting data in your open house management system in several different ways, causing problems with follow up. Or that the whole system simply doesn’t work the way you need it to, leading to an important strategic reinvestment in a new CRM.

As you grow, your verification activities should rise as well. Insist on the lower level process and tech reviews, but conduct your reviews with your team leaders. Hold them accountable for metrics at the lower levels while you up-level your view.

A Little Discipline Saves a Lot of Time

You don’t have to run your brokerage like a military operation, but a little discipline is certainly necessary. Having proper processes and systems in place that you don’t have to invent or constantly change is a big part of time management, success, and achieving that elusive work-life balance. Don’t spend time thinking about things that can be automated. Save that thinking time for the bigger strategic issues you really need to put thought into.

Management Systems. Digital Tools. Selling Systems. These are all things the team at Weichert can offer your business that you can plug into.  If you think this could benefit your business and put you on the path to growth call 877-567-3350 or visit weichertfranchise.com for more information.

Original content posted on https://www.weichertfranchise.com/blog/time-management-for-real-estate-brokers/